Tuesday, October 16, 2018

NASHVILLE (BP) – Back in high school, LifeWay CEO and President Thom S. Rainer spent many Friday nights playing tailback for what he calls a scrappy football team.

He noted they weren't the biggest, fastest or most athletic players, but because of the team's grit and determination, they overcame a bad season to make it into the quarterfinals of the state playoffs the following year.

In his new book, "Scrappy Church: God's Not Done Yet," Rainer calls on churches to bring a similar mentality to revitalization -- something he believes is attainable if churches are willing to roll up their sleeves and get a little scrappy. Read More

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (BP) -- For the past six years, White Sulphur Baptist Church has hosted a unique event that brings youth, police and military personnel together for a night of fun -- and much more.

The Georgetown, Ky., church has dubbed the event "Mission Impossible." On Oct. 12, the church presented a laser tag style game at night where youth competed against police and military personnel -- who are known during the evening as "commandos." It's spread out across a brush filled, eight-acre field cut with paths that lead to a home base.

Watchtowers are scattered across the field so commandos can sweep spotlights looking for the youth and then pass information to the commandos on the ground. This year a helicopter circled the field with a spotlight assisting the commandos. Read More

Moore answered questions from ERLC President Russell Moore in an Oct. 12 session during "The Cross-shaped Family" at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The three-day event attended by about 950 people was held Oct. 11-13.

"The main thing I was after with them was that I wanted them to know that Jesus was everything," Moore said of her two daughters, "that He wasn't just authority and the Big Boss that was just looking for them to mess up. But He was every single, wonderful thing in all of life. Read More

DONALSONVILLE, Ga. (BP) -- At least two southwest Georgia Baptist churches emerged heavily damaged from the eye of Hurricane Michael as it ripped through the southwest part of the state last week.

Reports from the two congregations are just emerging as cell phone towers are slowly rebuilt and stories begin to come out from the rubble that litters the once peaceful farming communities. Rocky Ridge Baptist Church of Donalsonville, Ga., and Springfield Baptist Church in Jakin, both in Bowen Baptist Association, are uninhabitable and will be for some time.

An insurance adjuster will be on site Wednesday morning Oct. 17 to survey the damage at Rocky Ridge, says deacon Keith Bowen. Read More

ABUJA, Nigeria (BP) – "And by God's grace, we'll make it," one of 276 Christian schoolgirls Boko Haram kidnapped from Chibok proclaims in the preview of an upcoming HBO documentary on the captives who've been released.

"Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram" showcases 103 Chibok schoolgirls struggling to regain normalcy nearly five years after their ordeal began. More than 100 Chibok girls remain captive or missing since the April 2014 raid on the Government Girls Secondary School in the predominantly Christian town of Chibok. Read More

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